332 



PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT. 



29. 



Leibniz 

 and Bayle. 



philosophy. In another point also Leibniz can be 

 compared with Aristotle, inasmuch as he was equally 

 acquainted with the teaching of other earlier or contem- 

 porary thinkers, and built upon their foundations. 



There are other causes why with Leibniz philosophical 

 thought had entered on a new phase, and, instead of 

 venturing on a bold attempt of creation and systematic 

 construction, was largely occupied with reconciling ex- 

 isting doctrines and apparently contradictory aspects 

 of thought. This task of reconciliation and of arriving 

 at unification, not so much by constructive effort as 

 by a process of harmonising, was pushed into the fore- 

 ground and became a desideratum to many thinking 

 minds through the writings of a contemporary of 

 Leibniz. It was Pierre Bayle who in several of his 

 writings had asserted the conflict between religion and 

 reason, between the tenets of faith and the doctrines 

 of philosophy ; and had exemplified this by pointing to 

 the difficulties involved in the problem of evil and 

 sin. 1 Bayle's criticisms gave the occasion to Leibniz 



1 Pierre Bayle (1647-1706) was 

 one of the most influential writers 

 of the seventeenth century, as 

 much through the sceptical tenor of 

 his works as through the enormous 

 erudition displayed in his ' Dic- 

 tionnaire Historique et Critique' 

 (1695-1697, 2nd augumented ed., 

 1702). It formed a principal chan- 

 nel of historical knowledge for sev- 

 eral generations, continued the scep- 

 ticism of earlier French writers like 

 Montaigne, and led on to the still 

 more celebrated and influential writ- 

 ings of Voltaire. It preached toler- 

 ance in all matters of doctrine, especi- 

 ally of religious beliefs. It was 

 the forerunner of the great Ency- 



clopaedia of d'Alembert. who, never- 

 theless, as Voltaire indignantly re- 

 marks, did not sufficiently ac- 

 knowledge his real predecessor. It 

 is supposed that Locke, who met 

 Bayle in Holland, received his 

 ideas on toleration in great part 

 from Bayle. Bayle was the great 

 exponent of the absolute separation 

 of matters of knowledge and mat- 

 ters of faith, but not in the sense 

 expressed by Bacon and Locke, 

 which led to the natural religion 

 of the Deists in England, but in 

 the older sense, according to which 

 religious beliefs would have no 

 meaning if they could be logically 

 demonstrated. It was this dualism 



